The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor(s), to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Food warming units, which are also known as food holding ovens or food holding bins, are used in the food industry to keep pre-cooked foods hot until they are used. Such ovens and food warming apparatus allow precooked food items to be stored separately until needed. By way of example, when a fast-food restaurant receives an order for a sandwich, the sandwich is typically assembled on a food preparation table where the contents of certain sandwich items, a hamburger patty for example, can be removed from food warning units. Storing precooked foods in food warming units thus enables quick sandwich assembly and efficient order fulfillment.
Prior art food holding ovens come in various fixed sizes but are not reconfigurable once they are installed. Such fixed-sized units thus limit food preparation layouts, which may change over time or have to be modified or altered for numerous reasons. For example, as restaurants add or change menus items, food preparation layouts might need to be adjusted. Fixed dimensional heating units limit the degree to which the food preparation layouts may be reconfigured.
Similarly, when a restaurant kitchen is remodeled existing fixed ovens and food warming apparatus might not be properly sized for the reconfigured kitchen. This can necessitate having to purchase one or more new ovens or warming apparatus at considerable expense or necessitate an undesirable or inefficient kitchen layout. Current food holding bins/ovens and warming units are not reconfigurable. A need exists for a more flexible apparatus.
As food warming units are deployed in increasing numbers, power outages have become an problem, especially in geographic locations where power grid infrastructure is lacking. In some locations around the world, fast-food restaurants can experience multiple power outages in a day. Each power outage has the potential of destroying food. When the power goes out, the holding modules heating food stop working, and the food can spoil as a result.
Another issue facing food warming units is the prevalence of these units across wide geographic expanses and the lack of remote access to these units. The result is that any time substantial modifications need to be made to a food warming unit, a technician must come out and physically modified the unit on the spot. There is no ability to provide a streamlined centralized programming functionality.